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Jake Hager
|birth_place = Perry, Oklahoma |death_date = |death_place = |resides = |billed = Perry, Oklahoma |trainer = DSW Staff FCW Staff OVW Staff |debut = September 7, 2006 |retired = }} Jacob "Jake" Hager (March 24, 1982) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment, where he works under the name Jack Swagger and is on it's SmackDown brand. Before debuting on the ECW brand, Hager worked in the WWE developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling, where he was the final Southern Heavyweight Champion and the inaugural Florida Heavyweight Champion. In WWE, he is a one-time world heavyweight champion, having won the ECW Championship Early career Early Career Hager was recruited to the University of Oklahoma as a two-sport athlete. Hager played football, and was the second string defensive tackle behind current National Football League players, Tommie Harris and Dusty Dvoracek. Due to his high-school wrestling background, he was asked to join the wrestling team in his sophomore year as a heavyweight, and switched over full-time. During his junior year, he met Jim Ross, who was then World Wrestling Entertainment's Head of Talent Relations, and Ross encouraged Hager to contact him after graduating. In 2006, as an All-American wrestler, he set the single season record for most pins at 30, and graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a Bachelor's Degree in Finance. World Wrestling Entertainment (2006–present) Developmental territories (2006–2008) In 2006, Hager had a WWE tryout in Deep South Wrestling, and in September 2006, Hager made his in-ring debut for Deep South Wrestling defeating Antonio Mestre in a dark match. He competed mainly in dark matches, before being moved to Ohio Valley Wrestling in January 2007. He debuted for by defeating Atlas DaBone, and in the following months began a feud with K.C. James. Hager began teaming with a multitude of opponents to feud with James and his tag team partner Cassidy James. In August 2007, Hager was reassigned to Florida Championship Wrestling, where he began a feud with TJ Wilson. On February 15, 2008, at the Florida State Fair in Tampa, Florida, Hager and Ted DiBiase, Jr. were the final two men remaining in a 23-man battle royal to determine the two contenders to become the first-ever FCW Florida Heavyweight Champion. Hager then defeated DiBiase to become champion. On March 22, 2008, Hager went against the FCW Southern Heavyweight Champion Heath Miller, in New Port Richey, Florida, to determine the true Heavyweight Champion. Both titles were on the line and Hager defeated Miller to become the undisputed heavyweight champion in Florida Championship Wrestling. His first loss came in the form of a Raw dark match, at the TV taping on August 18, 2008 when he lost to William Regal. Hager, now known as Jack Swagger, lost the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship to Sheamus O'Shaunessy on September 18, 2008 at a FCW television taping at the FCW Arena in Tampa. ECW (2008–2009) On September 9, 2008, Hager made his debut on the ECW brand under the ring name Jack Swagger, winning a match against a local competitor. He quickly established himself as a villain when he didn't let the referee hold up his arm after the win and later started a feud with ECW Original Tommy Dreamer by attacking him after Dreamer had saved Chase Stevens from Mike Knox. He later defeated Dreamer in a wrestling match and an "All American Challenge" competition. After weeks of feuding, they would finally end their rivalry in an Extreme Rules match, which Swagger won to extend his undefeated streak. He then set his sights on Matt Hardy's ECW Championship and was named the number one contender on the December 30, 2008, edition of ECW. On the January 13, 2009, episode of ECW, Swagger defeated Hardy to win his first title in WWE, the ECW Championship. His undefeated streak in singles competition ended on the February 3 episode of ECW when he lost to Finlay in a non-title match. After successfully defending his title against Hardy at the Royal Rumble and Finlay at No Way Out, Swagger began a feud with the returning Christian, to whom he lost the ECW Championship at Backlash, ending his reign as champion at 104 days. After losing the title, he attempted to regain the championship in a triple threat hardcore match at Extreme Rules, but was unsuccessful. Swagger attempted to win the ECW Championship again at The Bash in a ECW Championship Scramble, however, he did not succeed. Raw (2009–2010) On June 29, 2009, Swagger was traded to the Raw brand, making his debut as part of a three-on-one gauntlet match against WWE Champion Randy Orton, in which he got himself purposely counted out in order to make an impression on Orton.27 On the July 13 episode of Raw, he won his first match on the brand by defeating Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP).28 He then feuded with MVP for the next several weeks as the feud ultimately culminated at SummerSlam, in a match that MVP would win. After his short feud with MVP ended, Swagger began pursuing the WWE United States Championship. He had his first singles match for the championship on September 21 against Kofi Kingston, but lost the match by countout after stealing the championship and leaving the arena with it, although Kingston later stole it back while Swagger had a match against The Miz. He was also unsuccessful in winning the championship at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view. World Heavyweight Champion (2010) On the March 1 episode of Raw, Swagger defeated Santino Marella to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania XXVI. At WrestleMania, Swagger won the Money in the Bank ladder match, earning a contract for a guaranteed WWE World championship shot that he could utilize at any time over the next year. On the following episode of Raw, Swagger tried to cash in his Money in the Bank contract against John Cena, but changed his mind when he realized that Cena was not incapacitated enough for Swagger to easily defeat. As the match had never started, Swagger retained the contract for use at a future date. Swagger cashed in his Money in the Bank contract during the SmackDown taping on March 30, 2010, after the World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho had been speared by Edge. Swagger went on to defeat Jericho to win the World Heavyweight Championship for the first time. Wrestling facts *'Finishing and signature move' :*'Red White and Blue Thunder Bomb' - 2008 :*'Gutwrench Powerbomb' :*Ankle Lock :*Overhead Belly to Belly Suplex :*Oklahoma Slam :*Clothesline to back of opponent's head *'Nicknames' :*'The All-American American' Championships and accomplishments *'Florida Championship Wrestling' :*FCW Florida Heavyweight Champion (1 time) (first champion) :*FCW Southern Heavyweight Champion (1 time) (last champion) *'World Wrestling Entertainment' :*ECW Heavyweight Champion (1 time) :*Money in the Bank winner (2010) :*World Heavyweight Champion (1 time) See also *Jake Hager's event history *Jake Hager's gimmicks External links and references *Jack Swagger profile at WWE.com *Jake Hager profile at CAGEMATCH.net *Jack Hager's entrance theme Category:World Wrestling Entertainment current roster Category:Florida Championship Wrestling Category:American professional wrestlers Category:1982 births Category:WWE World Heavyweight Champions